Birding News and Features
Top eBird Contributors for 2010
We'd like to thank the top eBird checklist contributors for 2010. The following list includes those Canadian individuals and organizations who have entered or uploaded more than 200 eBird checklists this year. Adrian Dorst--546; Andrew Slater--534; Russell Cannings--406; Jukka Jantunen--332; Brian Self--305; Derrick Marven--271; Richard Cannings--271; Richard Mooney--263; Alan & Donna McKenzie--255; Chris Siddle--251; Mike Fung--234.
Ted Hillary: eBirder of the Month
We are instituting a new feature on eBird Canada—the eBirder of the month. The goal is to highlight how an individual is using eBird to inspire others to follow in their footsteps. One does not need to be a well-traveled or expert birder to be featured. Anyone who uses eBird is eligible, provided she or he understands the overarching goals of eBird and is committed to using the program regularly and properly. The first eBirder to be featured is Ted Hillary of Salmon Arm, BC. Click the headline link to read more about Ted and his dedication to eBird.
Be an eBird rep--give an eBird talk to your birding friends
As eBird Project Leaders, we would like nothing more than to be able to visit each corner of the Western Hemisphere to provide a 'hands-on' eBird experience for local groups (and to do some birding!). We've found that one-on-one contact with potential users, as well as through giving eBird presentations to target audiences, can really help eBird become established locally. But the reality is that there are many more local birding organizations than we could ever hope to visit in person. To remedy this we've made an eBird PowerPoint presentation available to our users so that they can help spread the eBird word at the local level. The presentation is available here.
New tool for finding recent sightings of interest
Bird Studies Canada has just released a new tool within eBird Canada which shows the location of all the recent sightings of interest across the country. Birdwatchers can now find out quickly by looking at a map whether there were any interesting birds reported in their area over the last couple of weeks. To use this new tool, visit http://ebird.ca/sightings.jsp. We also encourage you to report your own sightings, and be part of the eBird community.
New Feature--eBird Checklist Sharing!
Do you have a group of birding friends that are all devoted eBird users? Has it been frustrating that each of you has to enter your joint birdwalks into eBird separately? We are very excited to release eBird Checklist Sharing, which now allows you to copy checklists to another user’s account with the click of a mouse. From now on, when you go birding with friends you can designate who will be keeping the list and that person can enter the eBird list for the group. That checklist can be shared with the group using just an email address or eBird username. And once a checklist has been shared, you can add or delete species observed so that the list represents just what YOU saw. Read on for more information.
